A laminated ceramic capacitor that is a principal application of the present invention is typically manufactured as follows.
First, there is prepared a ceramic green sheet that contains a dielectric ceramic raw material and on which a conductive material which will become internal electrodes is provided in a desired pattern.
Subsequently, a plurality of ceramic green sheets including the above-mentioned ceramic green sheet to which a conductive material has been provided are stacked and heat-bonded to manufacture an integrated green laminated body.
The green laminated body is then fired to obtain a sintered laminated body. Internal electrodes composed of the above-mentioned conductive material are thus formed inside the laminated body.
Subsequently, an external electrode is formed on the outer surface of the laminated body so as to be electrically connected to particular internal electrodes. For example, the external electrode is formed by providing conductive paste containing conductive metal powder and glass frit to the outer surface of the laminated body and then baking the conductive paste. Thus, a laminated ceramic capacitor is completed.
To reduce manufacturing cost of the laminated ceramic capacitor, inexpensive Ni is desirably used as the material of the internal electrodes. When Ni is used as a material of the internal electrodes, the atmosphere during the firing of the laminated body needs to be a reducing atmosphere to prevent the oxidation of Ni during the firing because Ni is a base metal.
To fire the laminated body in a reducing atmosphere, the dielectric ceramic material needs to have reduction resistance. International Publication No. WO2006/114914 Pamphlet (hereinafter referred to as Patent Document 1) discloses a KSr2Nb5O15 ceramic composition as a material having reduction resistance and good electrical properties.
Patent Document 1—International Publication No. WO2006/114914